2010

I decided to do something different this year in my scrapping life. I am making an annotated calendar (doesn't that fall trippingly off the tongue). Basically, I scrap a little bit about each day. Some days have a matted space outside the actual calendar for extended journalling about the day or pictures. Other days are commemorated only by the bare bones jotted down in the calendar.

My biggest challenge in this project is to do a little every day. This is not my strong suit, as I'm usually a feast or famine sort of person. Then at the end of the year, I should have one completed scrapbook (then you'll hear me woot, woot... and there's a cut for that "woot" in the Paisley cart lol). I was doing pretty well until the day before yesterday when I lost the notebook I was jotting everything down in. Good thing I have lots of scrap paper around the house.

The title page of my 2010 Annotated Calendar is finished (huzzah!). Sure, you're saying, such a simple cut, simple layering, easy peasy. Well yes, the cutting was simple. But sorting out which papers to use from the 4 feet of paper in my stash, that took a week lol. Now I *know* that I could cut and change it, but somehow this turned into a quest for the perfect paper (cue choral note of revelation and streaming sunlight from behind a cloud).

What doesn't show up very well in the photo is the word journey in gold letters in the right hand corner. It's from Creative Memories in 2006 lol. It really is archival ; ).

This is my design for January.  Almost all the components come from Designer's Calendar, except for the decorative scroll that is working as mitten string which comes from Calligraphy Collection.

To download the January.gypsy file go here. This needs to be separated into single layers before cutting. I make temporary files for each paper. The file is made with Designer's Calendar and Calligraphy Collection (the mitten string).

A side note about designing with the Gypsy. I put all my layers into one file whenever I'm making something other than a few simple cuts. It makes it easier to adjust the changes I know will come. I love the group/ungroup features of the Gypsy. If it's a simple file, I just separate the layers to different areas of the mat and cut. If it's a bit more involved I save each layer in it's own temporary file and delete them after everything is glued in place. I find it easier to cut rectangles with a cutter when size really matters, like mats for photographs, edge to edge borders, etc.